Norwegian Words about Snow (A list in progress)
One day I thought, “Hey! I should list all Norwegian words about snow!” Then I did. It has been a work in progress that I have kept coming back to for almost exactly a year now.
So, below is a list of Norwegian words about snow. It is probably far from comprehensive, and some of the translations are probably a bit off, but it is -a- list of Norwegian snow-words.
Note that a lot of the words are not commonly used, and a large amount are regional. However, though I haven’t checked every single one, I think they are all officially accepted as Norwegian words.
I got the huge majority of these words from the great list at http://www.nhdesign.com/snjoord.html, which seems to have set out to make a list like this. However, there are very few translations, and the definitions are incomplete. I did my best at translating and defining the remaining words, and also collected some words from various other sources.
I have omitted a large chunk of words: I am not including words that are, or describe equipment used to interact with snow. I have also omitted words where I think they become a little ridiculous (like snow-dog, snow-bear, snow-bunny, etc.)
The list is far from perfect, but if I tried making it perfect I would probably never get it published at all, so consider this a beta-version. If you find any errors or omissions, please comment. With some time this could perhaps become a really good list of Norwegian snow-words
Words for plain old snow: Snø, snjo, snjø, snog, snjor, sjog, sjo, sny, snjy.
Old Norwegian words for snow: snár, snór, snær
Words for the verb, “to snow”: snø, snøa, snjoa, snova, snøva, snjøa, snøge, snoge, snjóge, snya, sne
Something that is covered with, messed up by, or full of snow: snøut, snøete, snøug
Hailstone: hagl
Small hailstone: eiter, eitersnø
Light, small snow-flakes: fjukr
Larger snowflakes: snøflukse, snøflygse, snøflysse, snøfloke, snøflinte
small’ish snowflakes: snøfjom, snøfjon, snøfnugg
Snowrag: snøfille
Snowflake: snøflak
Very large snowflake: snøfloke, snøflinte, snøflukse
Very, very large snowflage: snøkjerring
Grain of a hail-stone: haglkorn
Snow-crystal: snøkrystall
Grain of snow: snøkorn
Fine hail, fine snow-particles: eiter, eitersnø, eitresnø
Wet, “rainy” snow: slette, sludd, slatter, snøslat, snøslass
Verbs of the above: slette, sludde, slute, slatre
Sporadic snow: fauker
Verb of the above: faukre
Dry, sporadic, light snow: fjautr
Verb of the above: fjautre
Verb for light, falling, snow: snøfluskra, snøfokra
Heavy-falling snow: fana
Adjective for light fluffy snow: fyklen
Sporadic, light, small snow-grains: føyr
Sporadic, light, snow-grains that fall while it is windy: snøslit
Area of spread out snow: snøklesse
Area of very wet snow: valleslette
Area of wet thick snow you have to vade through: valleklesse
Area of a mixture of wet snow and snow: valleslette
Snow falling light and sporadically: snøfluskra, snøfokra
Snow blowing around: drivsnø
Very, very small ice-crystals formed by steam that freezes: frostrøyk
Artificial snow made by squirting water, and freezing it in flight: kunstsnø
Hailstorm: haglskur
Very sporadic falling of very small snowflakes: faukre, fukre
Verb of the above: fjukre
Snowy weather (verb) with dry, light snowflakes that aren’t falling very quickly: fjautre
The name of the flakes falling in the weather described above: iming
A mixture of snow and rain falling: dape, dape
Very cold weather with just a bit of snow: gnastervêr
Very sporadic snow in otherwise very clear weather: heiske
The above, but the snow moves horizontally a lot before falling down: heideskav
A LOT of snow (verb): lave
Very light and small flakes of snow or rain with a very light wind: grim
Snowy weather: snøvér, snøvær
A sudden occurrence of very heavy snow: snøbyge
Average amount of snow falling down: snøfall
Just a small amount of snow falling down: snødett
Very dense snow: snøkyng
Weather involving a lot of snow: snøtjukke
A lot of snow blowing around (may come from the ground): snøfok, snøføykje
A lot of snow being blown around by a VERY strong wind: snøbus
Just a little snow being blown around by a very strong wind: snøføyk
Snowstorm: snøstorm
Snow that is being blown into kind of a wavy formation by the wind: snødrev, snødriv, snødrift
The above done with very strong wind: snørok
Snow which blows along the ground so it looks kind of like a stream of water: snøgov, snøgauv
A gust of wind with snow in it: snøkast
Sudden, strong downfall of hail: haglbyge
Rain with occasional hail: haglbrest
Sudden, not always that strong, downfall of hail: haglskur
Hailstorm: haglstorm
Dry, light snow: flissnø
Downfall of wet snow in a very local area: dapekave
Thick air with snow: kovdam
Very local downfall of wet, big, snowflakes: slettekave
A mixture of snow, wet snow and rain: halvgote
Frozen ground: hardang
Snow coming from above, but blowing around a lot: himmelsfok
Snow coming from the ground, blowing around a lot (can also be used about dust, sand, etc.): jordfok, roksnjo
Wind with some snow blowing along in it: rennedriv, rennefok snøfok
A period of time with a lot of cold weather and snow: illri
Weather involving a lot of wet snow: kleksevêr
Verb for the falling of very light and thin snow: snøhære
Very for the falling of very thin snow: snøravl
Snow is expected: snødrått, snøeleg
Clouds that contain snow: snøbakke
Cloud from which it is snowing: snøsky, snøelte
Very big cloud from which it is snowing: snøhamar
General weather with clouds that look like they are going to snow: snøhimmel
Words for snow lying on the ground:
A mixture of snow and water: sørpe, surpe
Wet snow: slaps, slafs, slatter, slass
Wet ice and snow in which one can vade: vodl, snøslaps
Water containing snow or ice: stroppe
“Snow” created through steam being frozen onto solid surfaces: rim, hele
Hard, compact, icy grains of snow: borr
Snow from last year: firn
Snow with a hard surface with loose snow under it: skare
Wet snow which has frozen: avrange
Hard surface of snow which has frozen: hjårn
An uneven surface of snow which has frozen to ice: gadd
Slippery and hard snow or ice, often on roads: hålke
Adjective for wet, often recent, snow which sticks and is ideal for snowballs: kram
Ice, or the surface of ice and snow on water etc (or “Ice Cream” in fact): is
Newly fallen snow: nysnø
Snow from last year: fjorårssnø
Loose and dry snow: mjellsnø
Dry, powdery and light snow: tørrsnø
Words commonly used about snow on which one goes skiing:
Loose snow: laussnø, løssnø
Powdery snow: puddersnø, pulversnø,finsnø
Compact, small grains of snow: kornsnø
Snow with a strong hard surface: uppstøding
A flake of a strong, hard snow-surface: skaraflere
Newly fallen snow with an icy surface: jøkleføre
Deep snow with a consistent consistency: kjellføre
Annoying snow which will bulk together and build up on the underside of your skies: klabb, klabbe
Snow which has been compact and is now broken to pieces: mylsnø
Wet snow with a “porrogy”-consistency: snøgraut, snøgopel, snøgrop, snøgyrje
More general descriptions of snow, or areas with snow:
Small lumps of ice or snow: krap
Snow blowing strongly in the wind: fokksnø
Snow which has blown into a bunch with other snow: drivsnø
Snow on glaciers: bresnø
Glacier-ice: breis
Blue glacier-ice: blåis
Areas of water on snow, or snow that is full of areas of water: blåstøde
Bug area of heavy snow: slette
A very thin layer of snow: snøfån, snøhela, snøhim
A hardly visible layer snow snow which will soon dissapear: snøskrimsel
About the ways in which snow can arrange itself without interference from humans:
Glacier: jøkul, isbre, snøbre
Snow which has been arranged very thickly by the wind: snøfonn, snøfann, dunge
Something which is covered with snow (adjective): fent
A very heavy cover of snow: folge
A packed area of snow with with a sharp/steep edge: skavl
A crust of snow or ice on the edge of a mountain: bræne
Adjective describing very patchy snow with clear spots in between: skjerja, skjerven
A bunched up mass of snow on the side of a mountain: æke
Snow on branches: raunsveig, lavsnø
An edge of snow, often along a road or bath: bard, barde, brøytekant
Completely covered with snow, without any bare spots: snøfast, snøtekt, snøfast, snøheil
Adjective for something that has been covered with snow: nedsnødd
Adjective describing ground with snow on it, but not quite enough to cover the stones: steinberr
Very deep snow: djupsnø, dypsnø
A bunched together pile of snow that is hanging off something: snøskute
Ice which is covering a large inland area: innlandsis
A very thin layer of snow: snøfar
An adjective describing snow that very evenly and consistently covers a large area: randheil
The edge of a glecier: brekant
A crack in a glacier: bresprekk
A cave in or under a glacier: brehole, brehule
Iceberg: isfjell, isberg
A drifting flake of ice: isflak
A packed up area of ice: pakkis
Ice covering a river: isgang
Ice or snow which gathers up under ice covering a river, sometimes stopping the water: isdemning, isplugg
A path which is left after an avelanche: snøgote,fonnefar
A narrow path left after an avelanche: fonnestrek
Snow lying over a river: snøbom, sigleleid
Snow blocking the flow of a river: snøkork
Thick blob of snow floating down a river OR thin layer of snow on soild: snøfor, mylske, snøkrape, snøkrave
Adjective describing a geographical place with a lot of snow: snøhard
Adjective describing a specific place with a lot of snow OR weather when it is almost about to start snowing: snøtung
A place where the snow floats to, bunches up, and stays until spring: fonnestøde
A place with snow and ice… and not much else: isøde
Very slippery ice, under a layer of snow: underhål, svikhål, blindhål
Snow or ice that is almost transparent due to rain: glarhålke
The altitude that the snow starts appearing at: snøgrense, snølinje
Events involving snow and/or ice:
Avalanche: lavine, snøskred, snørås, snøskote
Small avalanche: snøras, snørap
Avalanche consisting of snow and ice: jøkleræs
Avalanche consisting of part of a glacier: brefall
Avalanche consisting of tightly packed snow: kramskred
Branches cracking under the weight of snow: snøbrot, snøbrot
Changes in the snow:
Snow melting: tøya, bråna, tina, tine
Snow becoming “sloppy”: vodla
Snow becoming wet/loose when the weather gets warmer: snølosing, snøløysing, snønåm
An old word for mild weather that melts snow in december, while one is baking Christmas cakes: kakelinne
Same as above, but with “Lefse” rather than Christmas cake: lefsetøyr
Actions one can take in snow:
To plough snow: brøyte
To fall in snow so that one gets it in ones nose and mouth: nysa, snysa
Playing/rolling around in snow: base, tumle, baske
Pushing and grinding someones face into the snow: kryne
Vading through very deep snow: vodla
Vading in snow: grynne
Vading in snow that reaches you to the knees: knegrynne
Rubbing snow into someones face, “whitewash”: snøvask (Thanks to Øyvind)
Snowball fight: Snøballkrig
Words describing the condition, or characteristics of the snow:
Very think layer of hard snow and ice that is too thin for it to be able to carry any significant weight: lettang, berrfrostsnøen ber
Adjective describing snow that is deep, and very hard to travel through, be it walking or skiing: vabbete
Trapped inside by the snow: innesnødd
Snow one has to lift ones legs very high to walk in (as one sinks back down for every step): stolpesnø
Describing the condition when there is enough snow for it to be significant with regards to getting around: snøføre
When there is enough snow to use “snowshoes” (truger): trugføre
When there is enough snow to ski on: skiføre
When there is enough snow to sleigh on: sledeføre
(and a lot of other -føre describing the state of the snow…)
Skiing conditions where you may risk falling through the snow: naudbraut
Snow where tracks, footprints, etc. are very easy to spot: sporsnø
Wet leyer of snow which freezes on the ground, starving small cattle: smaladrepar
The state of the light when it is slightly cloudy with snow on the ground, and it is impossibly to see contours on the ground: snømørker, snømørkt, blindføre
Man-made constructions or formations of snow:
Snowball: snøball
A bit snowball, that you would make a snow man from: snøvelte
A very big ball of snow, that you get from rolling a snowball for a long time: snøku
Snow angel, made by lying down on the ground, then waving ones arms and legs: snøengel
Patterns and drawings made in snow by walking around, making paths: trakkarhus
Snow cave: snøhole, snøhule
Ski-track, ski-course: skilåm, skiløype
Tracks left after ski or sledge: dyrgje, braut, ekkje, skilåm, skiline
Deep tracks: skistolp, staupe
Track after a sledge, wheels, timber being dragged in the snow, etc: meidd
Other:
Temporarily losing your sight due to the bright light reflected off snow (snow-blind): Snøblind
Damage to grass that has been covered by snow, and burned by the sun: isbrann
Adjective for when the snow has melted: tøya
When one would normally expect snow, but there isn’t any: berr, snøberr
Frosty ground, but no snow: berrfrost
Lack of snow: snømangel
No snow: snølaust, snøløst
Any feedback or comments? Contact me!